1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to an integral communication device for expanding communication capability of a mobile terminal and a method for controlling the integral communication device that is capable of controlling operations of multiple communication modules constituting the integral communication device efficiently.
2. Description of the Related Art
Earlier mobile terminals had a large and heavy design in order to stabilize the battery and other internal components. However, the bulk of these terminals was so great as to make it nearly unsuitable to call them “portable.” With the advance of semiconductor and battery technologies, mobile terminals have become slim and compact in design.
With improvements in their portability and the diversification of available applications, the use of mobile devices increased dramatically. The popularity of mobile communication terminals (including mobile phones) is further increasing due to the increased number of subscription services that are available for providing various useful functions as well as the mobile communication functionality of such terminals.
As the demand and availability of useful functions are increasing, users are also demanding external connection interfaces to support the various functions. Accordingly, most of recently manufactured mobile devices are provided with at least one external connection interface. For example, a mobile terminal is provided with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port for supporting connection to a USB-enabled storage medium so as to overcome the limit of internal storage capacity. Moreover, most of the recently manufactured mobile terminals provide at least one of various communication interfaces for establishing a wireless or wired connection link with an external device.
Also, as the kinds of peripheral devices of the mobile terminal are diversified, it has been required for the mobile terminal to support simultaneous connections to multiple peripheral devices. However, because the mobile terminal is limited in size, there is not enough area to provide multiple connection interfaces. Accordingly, there is a need to develop a multiple devices connection mechanism and control method for establishing simultaneous connections to multiple devices and managing the multiple connections efficiently.